Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra was asked by Decathlon to provide her contact number and email address after a purchase. She has called out the French sporting goods retailer for ‘violating privacy laws and consumer laws’
Mahua Moitra had visited the Decathlon store in Delhi’s Ansal Plaza to buy a pair of trousers when the manager said he needed her phone number and email address to close the purchase deal. PTI
Firebrand Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Mahua Moitra is not too pleased with Decathlon. She has accused the French sporting goods retailer of violating her privacy and the consumer laws.
Moitra had visited the Decathlon store in Ansal Plaza, a popular shopping hub in Delhi, to buy a pair of trousers for her father. However, the store manager insisted that she give her contact details – her mobile number and email address – to make the purchase.
Moitra refused to divulge her personal information and tweeted about the spat.
“Want to buy my dad trousers for INR1499 in CASH at @Decathlon_India Ansal Plaza & manager insists I need to put in my mobile number & email ID to purchase. Sorry @Decathlon_India you are violating privacy laws & consumer laws by insisting on this,” she wrote.
Moitra also shared a screenshot of a message she received from a top Supreme Court lawyer, who asked her not to share her mobile number with the store. “Ask them to reconfigure their system,” the lawyer said.
“I ran into the same problem with Lenskart (an eyewear retail chain) and refused to give my mobile number. I spoke to their head manager and finally, he put in some random employee’s mobile number,” the lawyer said in a message to Moitra, alleging that “these retail chains have configured their system in this way to trap the customer”.
“Tech and data oligarchs want to enslave us,” the lawyer added.
Political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla suggested that Moitra ask the store to give it in writing that they will not sell her their product without contact information. “See how they fall in place,” he added.
Moitra later said that the “sweet manager” entered his mobile number in the system and helped her with the purchase.
A common practice in India
The Trinamool leader added that she usually shopped at Decathlon stores in the United Kingdom and they never ask customers for mobile numbers. They ask for email addresses if a person wants a paperless receipt. “So clearly only the Indian arm wants to fool customers here. Not nice @Decathlon_India,” she wrote.
The problem Moitra faced is all too common in India, where retailers insist on taking the personal details of consumers. A Twitter user agreed and wrote, “This behaviour is so rampant in India. Every store you go to will ask for your number. Initially, I resisted and led to fights, with exasperated sighs from people behind in the queue. Now I provide any 10 digit no that captures my imagination that day.”
Not the first complaint against Decathalon
In 2019, IAS officer Captain Manivannan said that the Decathalon store in Bangalore denied him service because he refused to provide his phone or email details.
When he wrote to the company to share their rules and policy, he received a response saying that they could not provide the service until the customer provided their personal information.
What does the rulebook say?
Captain Manivannan had reached out to the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) on the matter.
In a letter, NLSIU had confirmed that Decathlon refusing to provide service to consumers who refuse to share their personal contact or email address is a restrictive trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, according to a report in Bangalore Mirror.
The Personal Data Protection Bill proposes limitations on the purpose for which data can be collected or processed and it has restrictions to ensure that only data essential for providing a service is collected. However, the bill, which seeks to replace the two-decade-old Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT ACT), is yet to be discussed by the Cabinet.
India currently does not have any specific legislation for personal data protection. India’s regulatory mechanism for data protection and privacy is the IT Act and its corresponding Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (the IT Rules).
Personal data is also protected under the right to privacy which is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
With inputs from agencies
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